At the Strike of Midnight :Chapter One: Arrival
by Nicolette Moon
Summary: There's a new girl in Forks. Selena's parents died in a car accident and now she's moving in with her aunt and uncle. At the airport she sees one of the most amazing things: a boy. A boy her aunt calls one of the 'Cullen boys'.
1. Arrival

**Chapter One:**

**Arrival**

Forks was a new town for me. I'd lived in Seattle all my life and only ever heard of Forks. I knew this much: rain, rain and more rain. With a possible chance of snow. Anyway, I was moving to Forks because my aunt and uncle live there, and they were, just recently, my only living relatives. Just two weeks ago, my parents died in a tremendous car accident because of a drunk driver. You're probably thinking, 'oh, she's taking it so well'. Well, no, I'm not. I just refuse to cry, because I know someday I'll see them again. It was their time to leave, and we must all cope with what life brings us. Ok, so maybe it sounds like I am taking it a little easy, but I wasn't finished. When I said I refused to cry, I meant that I refused to cry in front of people. I was never the sort of cry in front of anyone. If I wanted a good cry, I would go to my room or any other secluded area and let my tears have their way with me then.

I didn't know what to think of Forks. It was in northwest Washington State, on the Olympic Peninsula. I'd heard it rained most there than anywhere else in the United States of America. I didn't doubt it from what I'd been told. Everytime I would call Anna and Lawrence, my aunt and uncle, they would ask me how things were. I'd say fine, secretly hinting things were horrible. I'd ask the same. They'd reply 'rainy'. During winter, I would sometimes get 'snowy' or 'slushy'. Well, Forks was beginning to seem quite unpredictable in weather to me now. Please, note the sarcasm.

Now, quite honestly, I didn't mind the gloomy weather, but I _do_ like my sun, so on the days I would appreciate warmth, if it were raining or snowing, I suppose I would have to deal with a fireplace. And maybe a really bright lamp.

I looked around the airport after a few minutes of thinking and stood on my very tip-toes to try to catch a glimpse of Anna and Lawrence. They were such tall people, I highly doubted I would miss them if they were looking for me. But, of course, when there are tall people in front of you, and you're a short build of 5'2'', it makes things a little difficult.

I had landed in the airport, after a very short flight, at around noon. The airport at Forks was sort of small, but it worked and made things much easier to deal with when you're searching for someone. Aside from the tall people issue.

I slipped passed a few people in front of me and began to wonder if everyone in Forks was tall. If that were the case, I would feel very, very intimidated at school. I hoped, as a senior, that I would be taller than the freshmen and sophomores. I doubted this as I looked around at the giants. Then my eyes caught a glimpse of something I didn't expect. I stopped butting through people and did a double-take at this beautiful being. A boy, tall and thin compared to the bigger-built boy beside him, was propped up against a wall with his hands in his pockets. His hair was an interesting dark auburn colour, or maybe bronze. I wasn't quite sure yet. The one beside him, the very well-muscled boy, had dark brown, curly hair. They were so unimaginably beautiful. The smaller boy much more amazing than his friend. The bronze-haired boy had perfectly etched features, sharp, but soft, still. I couldn't see well enough to tell the colour of his eyes, but they sparkled so happily.

I knew I was gawking a bit, but I couldn't help it. They were breath-taking.

And I think I meant breath-taking literally when I suddenly exhaled and took a sharp intake of breath, as if I'd forgotten to breathe.

"Selena!" My name was shouted. Before I turned, I saw the bronze-haired boy turn his head to look at me. We made eye contact for not even half a second and I wish I could have seen his expression, but my instincts forced me to answer to my name like a little puppy. I saw a tall, thin, striking woman jogging towards me. My eyes widened as Anna threw her arms around me in a tight hug. She squeezed twice as hard before releasing me to hold me away at arms length and examine me with a smile on her face. "You've grown so beautifully."

"Thanks," I blushed, embarrassed that the strange boy behind me had to see our reuniting. And as if reading my mind, Anna glanced up behind me and smiled.

"The Cullen boys over there are staring at you, Selena." She said, raising her eyebrows in interest.

"Who?" I asked and she spun me around lightly to face the two boys I had been gawking at. Sure enough, they were gazing at me, unblinkingly. The blush that was on my cheeks still from Anna's overreaction to seeing me deepened to where I could feel the slight burn of embarrassment. In fact, I was sure the 'Cullen boys'—as she had addressed them—could see it too. I quickly ducked for cover by spinning around quickly to face Anna again.

"Come on Selena—" She began, smiling still.

"You can call me Lena, you know." I interrupted quietly, trying not to sound rude. Though, I bet that's why she wasn't calling me Lena. My parents had called me that and I suppose she just didn't want to upset me, or sound rude my immediately addressing me with the nickname used by my mom and dad.

"Oh." She was quieter now. I could tell she was pleased by my inclination to her, but didn't want to be that noticeable. "Well," Anna continued, "come on, then. Lawrence is out in the car."

I followed her out of the crowded area to a more less-populated one. She led me to a black car that was sparkling slightly in the dim light of the… sun? I looked up at the sky and, though the clouds threatened to burst at any moment, a small sliver of sunlight shone through. She leaned down to my ear and whispered, "it's a Spyder Eclipse. Isn't it great?"

I giggled a bit and nodded, "yeah, it's pretty nice." Nice? Who am I kidding? It was incredible!

"Well," she was still whispering, "Lawrence told me not to tell you this, but we have a little surprise for you at home."

I was going to smile, but her words sort of struck. _Home._ Home was a place where you had a mom and dad. Home wasn't where you lived with your aunt and uncle. Atleast, not to me it wasn't. I suddenly missed my parents. How I could come home everyday after school and hug them and tell them how everything went. And they would listen. I didn't think for one second that Anna or Lawrence wouldn't listen to me, but it wouldn't be the same. I felt the prick of tears behind my eyes, but I bit them back. I would not cry. Not here, anyway.

I finally smiled at her and she walked around on the other side and got into the passenger's seat. I climbed into the back seat after putting my luggages into the trunk and smiled at Lawrence through the rearview mirror. He smiled back and as soon as the car's engine started, so did the rain. The clouds had busted, just as I had forcasted, and the rain was coming down quick and hard, pounding on the windshield of the car. The windshield wipers were going at top speed. I suddenly wondered why the wipers hadn't broken by now, because it rained constantly. I bet there rarely came a day when they didn't have to use their windshield wipers, not even once.

The ride to their house was silent, except for the light hum of music on the radio. When we pulled in at their surprisingly large house, Lawrence grabbed an umbrella from the dashboard, opened his door, extended the umbrella, and slid out to open my door. I stayed in close to him, so we could both share the cover against the rain. I thought he was going to open Anna's door for her, but when I looked over, she was already out with a hot pink umbrella over her head. I would have cringed at this ugly colour, but it somehow looked nice with her blonde hair and pale skin. Lawrence's umbrella was an appreciative black.

We hurried to get under the poarch's roof until Lawrence could unlock the door so we could find the comfort of not only reliable cover, but warmth as well. When the door was unlocked, Anna and I bombed through after Lawrence, laughing about our almost-collision once inside. Lawrence smiled and shook his head as he walked down the spacious hall to the kitchen—which appeared to be a mini-restaurant. The kitchen was styled in a very Olive Garden-y fashion, with decorative grapes and vines. Vines were even wrapped up the two circular columns in the room. The columns were the usual white marble and didn't seem tall until you stood next to them and looked up at the ceiling.

The cooking area was practically spotless with the spices and herbs and oils that seemed decent for the guests to view neatly organized. There was a bowl of fake fruit, the main attraction being the grape. I nodded in approval and looked to Anna, "nicely done."

She laughed a sweet tone, but loud. "I didn't design this, Lena. Lawrence did."

I looked at Lawrence, surprised. He had his head down shyly, not wanting to seem big-headed about his well-thought out plan for the decoration. He was smiling though, a red tint to his cheeks. In his hand he held a key that didn't belong to the Spyder Eclipse. Then he looked up, "can we give her her surprise now, Anna?"

She nodded warmly and Lawrence walked to my side, amiably placing an arm across my shoulders and leading me out a door that was to the left of us, beside the kitchen bar-counter. When we walked out, there was a row of three cars. One, a red BMW Convertible[clearly Anna's, another a black H3, and the last was a glittery black Mini-Cooper with a white hood. My mouth fell at all the cars. Each one of them were extraordinary; I couldn't believe how they could afford _four cars_, all of them being expensive. Back at home, we only had two, which were a Lexus and my mom's van that she refused to give up even when I had grown up and didn't need a van to ride in anymore.

"And," Lawrence said proudly, breaking my reverie. I looked up at him and he was dangling the keys between his index finger and thumb, just in arms reach of me. "The Mini-Cooper, Lena, is _**yours**_. I take it you have you driver's license, yes?"

I squeaked an overly thrilled 'yes' and abruptly held my hand out for the keys. They fell, as if in slow motion, into my palm and I wrapped my hands around them. I squealed now and jumped to throw my arms around Lawrence, and then Anna. They laughed, taken by surprise at my sudden outburst of socialness. "Wanna take 'er for a spin?" Anna challenged playfully.

Was she crazy? It was still pouring out! I didn't notice that I looked out of the garage windows, but she followed my gaze and then added, "well, maybe tomorrow."

"Yeah." I said. "Definitely tomorrow. After all, it is my first day at Forks High."


	2. The Cullen Boy

Chapter Two:

**The Cullen Boy**

My bedroom was extravagant. It had an inclining ceiling and a window seat, which I appreciated so very much. The bedroom's theme was red, black, and a slightly-off-white. The walls were a rich red with the off-white trimming and the full size bed, which was catty-cornered had a black comforter and blood red satin sheets. The wood in the room was a reddish mahogany colour. The window seat's carpet on the top was black. In the room, there was a computer, night stand[with alarm clock, phone and lamp, chest-of-drawers and a walk-in closet. The room was so spacious; it was amazing. And I slept pretty well in the full size bed. But to my displeasure, the alarm clock went off sooner than desired. However, I forced myself up anyway.

I hadn't unpacked yet, and I hoped my clothes weren't terribly wrinkled. I went to the luggage I knew contained my shirts and unzipped it. A few rolled shirts tumbled off of the top as if it were a spring dying to burst. I looked into the full suitcase and sighed, not knowing what people from here wore. Warm clothes, I knew that.

I dug through the contents of the bag and found a simple navy blue v-neck sweater and a gray tank top with tiny silver beads at the top hem to go underneath. I went to the next luggage, that held my jeans, and pulled out dark blue jeans that weren't too dark or too light to clash with my navy blue sweater. Next came the shoes, which I quickly decided were to be my light grey glossy rainboots that matched the colour of my tanktop. I tucked my pants into my boots and walked into the bathroom to put on the slight makeup I put on—which is eyeliner, mascara, eyeshadow, and lipgloss; though I sometimes put on a thin layer of foundation and blush, even if I don't need it.

I looked into the mirror of the bathroom down the hall and found nothing special. In my opinion, I wasn't pretty. I had long dark brown hair that was usually straight and light blue eyes. I was thin, I gave myself that. But definitely not athletically built. I was 5'2'', the shortness from my mom, and had small boobs and a round butt—which was often complemented by the perverted guys at school. I mean, my chest wasn't flat or anything, but they could be bigger. So, I guess I was pretty average.

Then I remembered how pale I was. I wondered how pale or tan the people of Forks High School would be. Betting from the weather though, the only tan ones would most likely be fake-bakes. But you shouldn't draw conclusions too quickly, it gets you in trouble. I've learned that from personal experience.

When I was finished with my makeup, I went downstairs to get breakfast. Anna and Lawrence were already up and Anna was making pancakes, but by the look of her face, she seemed to find it a bit difficult. When I sat down, Lawrence was the only one to notice me—Anna being preoccupied with the pancakes—and then Anna says, "when do I turn them over?"

I laughed quietly and walked to her side. "You should flip them now."

Anna glanced over at me and gave me a quick smile of both thanks and a good morning. She flipped the pancakes. They were a perfect brown. "Good job." I congratulated and took my seat at the table again. Lawrence yawned and stretched, then looked at me, "how'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good." I said, honestly. I remembered the alarm clock, "aside from that blaring thing on my night stand."

"The alarm clock?" Anna inquired, dishing the pancakes into a plate and distributing them among me, Lawrence, and the blank place at the table that was going to be hers. She walked to a cabinet and opened it, grabbing the pancake syrup without having to stand on her toes. I tried not to make a face at her gift to be tall. She came back over and placed the syrup on the table, sitting in her spot.

"Yeah." I replied.

"I know," Anna said lowly, pretending that she didn't know Lawrence could hear. "I'm taking a sledge hammer to that thing one of these days."

I laughed and watched Lawrence's expression. It remained emotionless as he poured syrup on his pancakes. I got the feeling he'd heard this conversation before. He looked up and smiled as he put the syrup bottle down. Anna reached for it next, but instead of pouring it on her own pancakes, she handed it to me. I grinned thankfully and opened the sticky cap to pour the syrup. Anna got the bottle last and then we all tucked in.

After breakfast, I glanced at the clock. It was 7:30. I should be leaving now, even though it wouldn't take me even ten minutes to get to the school. I went to the key rack beside the garage door and paused, my hand hovering over each key as I were hoping the right one would fly into my hand.

Yeah.

It didn't.

"Hey, um…" I started.

Lawrence cut me off, "the one to the far right. Have a good day."

"Thanks." I said and grabbed the key, going out to my new Mini-Cooper.

When I got in, I was surprised to find a garage door opener on my mirror flap. I hit the open button and the garage door sprung to life, roaring upwards. I waited till it was all the way up to put the car in reverse and roll out into a light drizzle. I pressed the close button on the device and the garage door came to life again, this time rolling down. Pulling out of the driveway, I got on the road, put the car in drive and went right.

With the very helpful directions from Lawrence, I found myself at Forks High School. I pulled in, searching for a parking place. I found one between an old truck and a silver Volvo. I sat in the car for a moment, staring at the school. I groaned, the nervousness starting to kick in now. The 'good day' wish from Lawrence had better work. Finally, I climbed out, sloshing around in my rainboots and looking for the front office. Someone walked by and it took me all the courage I had to run after him and ask him where the front office was at.

"Hey!" I called after him. He stopped and turned, looking me up and down, trying to decide if I was new or not.

"Hey yourself." He said. Good, friendly.

I smiled, "uhm. Could you tell me where the front office is? I'm kinda—"

"New here?" He asked, "I figured that."

So he had decided I was new. Then it struck me. Was it I that /I obvious already? Of course, this was a small town. Everybody probably knew everybody. "Yeah." I replied.

"And, I'll just show you where the front office is. Easier done then said." Well, that's a knew one. He led me to the opposite direction I had gone to chase him down. "I'm Jay, by the way. Short for Jayson."

"That's nice." I said, not really listening to him.

"Aren't you going to tell me your name?" I heard him chuckle.

I looked at him for a second while we walked and then said, "yeah. I'm Lena. Short for Selena."

"That's a pretty name." Jay smiled. I blinked at him and as soon as I did, something fell in front of my feet. I fell to the ground with a light thud and opened my eyes, which had apparently been closed to prepare for the fall.

"Owww." I groaned. Jay was fighting hysterics as he extended a hand to help me up. I grabbed his hand and attempted to stand, but the wet ground refused it and I slipped back down, almost bringing him with me. But he must have more coordination than me. This time he was dying in laughter. I scowled and picked myself up, brushing the wet grass off my butt. "It's not nice to laugh." I hissed.

He drew in a deep breath, and tried to keep from laughing, but that just made it look like he was having cardiac arrest. "I know." He choked. "But it was so funny!"

"What did I trip on anyway?" I asked, looking around for the source of my fall. There was nothing.

He burst out in laughter then and said something between the hyperventalation that sounded like, "your own feet!"

I narrowed my eyes at him and then lowered the glare to my shoes. I cursed my feet silently and then, after Jay could control himself just a little bit, kept walking. It was a short walk, it seemed, but being ridiculed about tripping over yourself the whole way there by someone you just met made the trip much longer. But instead of arguing with him, I just crossed my arms over my chest and didn't crack a smile. That shut him up.

We got to the front office and he took me inside. I walked to the front desk. The red-haired woman at the desk was on the telephone and held up a finger to signal for me to wait. As if I had no better manners. After she hung up she smiled politely at me, "can I help you, hon?"

"Yeah, uhm. I transferred in here from Seattle. I'm Selena Beckett." I told her.

She smiled, "just a second." And she turned in her swivel chair, digging through a filing cabinet. When she found my file, she turned around again and put my folder on the desk. "I see you've met Jayson Mindi. He's the office assistant; maybe he can help you around?"

I glanced at him and he started sniggering. "I might need a wheel chair if I'm going to help her around."

The red-haired woman smile, though she obviously had no clue what he was talking about. Boy, I knew exactly what he was talking about though. "Enjoy Forks!" The woman said and I snatched my folder off the desk, began to walk out, and hit Jay upside the head with the folder while he was doubled over in laughter. He stopped laughing immediately and turned, following me out.

"What's your first class?" He asked, leaning over my shoulder to read my schedule.

"English Honours." I said.

I glanced up at him and saw him smiling broadly. Reading my questioning gaze, he answered, "that's my class."

"Joy, joy!" I exclaimed sarcastically. He caught the sarcasm and didn't say another word as I followed him to English.

I stepped into the class room. Jayson left me for his seat and I nervously went up to teacher. He accepted my folder, checked it, signed the paper, and smiled. I glanced around the room for a seat and the only one was in the back. Beside a familiar head of bronze hair. I didn't notice it at first because the boy had his face away from me. Along with his whole body. He was sitting on the edge of his chair, leaning away from me. I furrowed my brows and scooted over to my corner of the desk, away from him.

"Class, this is our new student," Oh God, no. Please no. "Selena Beckett."

I smiled shyly and shrunk back into my chair. The class's eyes were all on me. All of them. Well, except for the boy next to me. I didn't understand why the 'Cullen boy', as Anna called him, could stare at me so deeply at the airport, but here… here, he sat, leaned away from me as if I would just up and bite him. When the teacher started teaching, everyone looked away from me. I kept glancing over at the 'Cullen boy'. How could I not? He was so amazingly gorgeous. There was no possible way that I could ignore the flawless pale skin and the perfectly sketched face. Now, the way I was thinking about him, made me nervous. I realized I was staring and forced my gaze to break.

I Just ignore him. /I I told myself. But, it didn't help. All through my first day in this class, I couldn't focus, because of him. Him that had to be so beautiful. So mysterious. Ugh, curse it. He obviously didn't like me, according to his posture. Just quit while you're ahead, Lena.

Finally the bell rang, and while it was still going, the 'Cullen boy' leapt out of his seat and was out of the room faster than anyone could every imagine.


End file.
